Yearly Archives: 2009

Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Positive Unrest

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See the rabbit in this picture?

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.

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space in this picture

It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.

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…and a dragon in this one.

You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others

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From The Life and Work of Martha Graham

Always we must be disturbed by the Truth. That’s a kind of positive unrest.

Daily Life, Information

The Ability to Choose Freely

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From a young age I kept a note book with wise sayings I’d gathered. A quote I particularly remember is, We live in the presence of constant choice. The freedom to make wise choices can be limited, either through internal factors or external ones. Or a combination of both. Yet still we live in the presence of constant choice. I’ve wanted to point out a certain website for some weeks now and somehow everything came together yesterday evening. Instead of posting I went to sleep instead. Here is yesterdays posting, this evening.

Beautiful calm evening. We set off in happy anticipation of good conversation, a stimulating exchange of ideas and a joke or three for good measure. All is well with the world, walking companion, me and Fred. We are just a few yards down the lane when…. FRED! Followed by barks and snarls and confusion and pulling and dragging thereby nearly slipping the collar. We have two dogs in our family, Fred and Harry (aliases of course, to protect their privacy). They are fine together for the most part however if they should meet on their leads it’s not a happy moment for any of us.

Returning to the beautiful calm evening I offer to take Fred’s lead since my companion’s arm has been half ripped from his shoulder… Dogs! Love ’em or leave them at home. In this instance the later is not an option. The subject of assisted suicide and prescribing practices at end of life walked with us, all the while punctuated with come on, keep walking and how much pee does one dog have? And finally the enactment of the five second sniff rule. There are limits, even when one loves ’em.

At times like this when; dog meets dog, dog walks with humans and humans (do their level best) to get along with dogs one realizes the difference. Dogs are animals fare and square and while humans have animal natures too, there is a difference. An obvious difference is our ability to make conscious choices. I’ll skip over a whole lot of things I might say as the evening draws on and point you instead to a web site which addresses, most compassionately, the issue of choosing to come off psychiatric medication. In the next breath I have to say I’m not advocating for or against this choice. However if that is your choice I’d urge taking heed and following the advice offered on the above site. That’s really important. (BTW the site is a treasure trove of information about psychiatric drugs.)

This might seem an odd juxtaposition of subjects; dog walking and animal nature, the assisted suicide issue, the prescribing habits of many doctors at end of life, the freedom to choose, the ability to choose to, or not to, to take prescription drugs, choosing life or death, choosing quality of life. However the way I look at it now, there is nothing odd at all.

Nearly home from our walk and car stops beside us. A familiar face smiles peaceable from the drivers seat. We greet the troupe, here in the valley for our family week-end. The chap behind the wheel just happens to be the one who gave me the link above. Thank you and it was a pleasure to spend time with you all.

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Onward to Death – Again

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It’s not long before the subject of death comes around again. Again! Well I guess death is a constant if one thinks of life and death flowing together, moment to moment. Anyway my good walking companion told me about an interview, presumably Radio 4, with John Humphreys talking about a recently published book contemplating death. He is well known on the Today programme, a week-day bonanza of debate and news, and not without it’s heated moments.

JH always says it like it is, how he sees it anyway. Now on death he is his own self on this one too. (I blush to think what he would make of my writing ‘style’. He’s red hot on the English language, and how it’s currently being abused.)
Here is a slice of the Telegraph review of the book:

Humphrys’s narrative is compelling. He is determined to tell it like it is: “My father’s last years cast a shadow over what had been a good life and those of us who knew and loved him feel a mixture of resentment and guilt to this day.” There is none of the self-indulgence of Julian Barnes’s Nothing to Be Frightened of, or even Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, because Humphrys is more interested in others than in himself.

He writes about how his own thinking has evolved as a result of these experiences, for example on the advantages of a sudden death over prolonged illness. “It might be perfect for the person who does not wake up in the morning, but it is a savage blow to the loved one left behind,” he says. And he is pleasingly ruthless on the absurdities of a system where “it is possible that [a doctor] may kill a patient, but if you have done so in the process of trying to relieve suffering you cannot be held to account”. The worry for the doctor, he points out, is that relatives will not believe this to be the case.

Welcome Visitor: John Humphreys and Sarah Jarvis: a review

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Climbing the Mountain

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Exchange of gifts after the Wesak Ceremony on Saturday.

We were over fifty gathered in Leeds to celebrate the Buddha’s Birth and Enlightenment, Wesak. Traditionally this falls around May 8th and marks the Buddhist New Year. We’ll be celebrating all over again next Sunday at Throssel.

Preparing for our Leeds event was much like preparing for a climbing expedition, although I’ve never been on a serious climb. Before the climb details rise up and spread out and can become overwhelming. (Thankfully I was not directly involved in dealing with all of the details.) Then there is the climb, or in our case the ceremony and the day of events. And then the the decent, the packing up and returning home.

We didn’t get to the top of anything and nor did the group spoken about in the previous posting. Perhaps the merit, and the wisdom, that flows from cooperative effort is less about outcomes and achieving ends and much more about the step by step walking together with others. The walking, talking, driving, emailing, organising, thinking, planning, packing, unpacking, eating and laughing is what I will remember about our Leeds Wesak. And I remember it with gratitude. Next year perhaps we can make it a 24 hour retreat.

Yes, my attention has been very much directed otherwise and I’m sorry to bring a sigh for regulars who check-in only to find no new posts. This is a new post and my intention is to continue to write. My best wishes to all.